What do I believe in? A question I asked myself occasionally when lying awake in bed at night, happening to pass by some breath-taking scenery or lent my ears to an old person who rambled on about their golden years. When I pondered on those kinds of thoughts, they would always point to what my parents taught me and the small world I lived in. They were good values that earned respect, but ultimately wasn't something born through my small period of individual experience. Sure my opinion for boys changed and I now started to get a grasp on Pokémon in a personal perspective, but overall, I was just a spring chicken.
What I do know is that I felt that Maxie was wrong and it was up to me to stop him. Granted, he was a know-it-all and thought little of me, but that was gonna change...
"Very persistent I see. I suppose we can decide who is the more superior trainer with one Pokémon,"
Maxie withdrew his fainted his mightyena and walked closer towards Chirpie and I. He was still a good distance away, but had closeness indicated a little more respect. The Magma leader then took out a third pokeball and adjusted his glasses. At that moment, my eyes caught something familiar in the side of his frames. It had been the same bluish-green stone Brendan and I wore on our bracelets at the Contest Spectaculars. What was he doing with that thing?! Does he go to contests too?! No, that couldn't be it; there was no way on this planet that he'd be interested in something like that.
"I hope you're prepared this time, child. Because if you aren't, it will be the end for you!"
With that, he threw the device in the middle of the platform to reveal a large, orange camel creature. Its large body was covered in thick fur and looked to have two mini volcanoes growing from its back. I admittingly had been about what kind of team they were. Team rocket used poison-types and Team Aqua used water-types. Maybe it was just me, but all that red for this team's colors had been seriously misleading about what types they used. Either way, I was screwed because Maxie's camerupt was a fire/ground-type.
Despite the disadvantage, Chirpie bravely stepped forward and went into his fighting stance. The situation was intense, but I could feel myself grin from the amount of trust my fire-fighter put in me. Well he was my first Pokémon after all. My gaze looked towards the two battle ready animals before setting my sights on my opponents. A short smile creeper up on his lips and held up a teddy-ursa-shaped. My firebird took his gaze off camerupt for just that moment to lock onto the treat.
"Chirpie wa-"
"Camerupt, use lava plume!"
The large creature's two small volcanoes suddenly erupted and spewed out molten lava. Chirpie quickly jumped out of the way to avoid most of the stream, but got hit by a small splash on the left arm. As expected, it burned him badly to the point where he nearly stumbled off balance. "Come on, Chirpie! Show em' who's boss and use sky uppercut!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
My tall Pokémon was moved by my voice and launched itself at the large beast. Fortunately for us, the thing was too big and slow to avoid the fighting-type attack and took it in the chin. The camel-like creature let out a bellowing cry in pain while holding back tears.
But what wasn't expected was the beast to shoot his head forward and snatch Chirpie by the leg with its teeth. The fire/ fighting-type fell back to hit his head roughly again the plexiglas; nearly knocking him out. "Camerupt, stomp on him!" Maxie quickly commanded as he realized the new advantage they gained. Without any hesitation, it raised both of its front legs and slammed both of its feet down.
"AH! CHIRPIE!"
Fright nearly took over as I tried not to picture the worst. The whole platform shook as it was hit, but strangely, it wasn't as powerful as I thought it would be. I stumbled a little from trying to regain my balance and moved my hand from my face, I could see why. Maxie's neutral expression remained as it was; though the situation grew more intense.
The left foot of camerupt missed Chirpie's free leg by inches and his right was being held at bay by my firebird's arms. Alright! Time to strike back! "Chirpie! Knee him in the chest!"
In that second, the blazekin thrusted up his free knee and hit home against the foe's ribcage. The unfortunate target groaned painfully and fell on its side from the severity of the impact. It looked so bad that it almost made me feel terrible. Yeesh, I better finish it off before I felt like the bad guy.
"Chirpie, let's end this with a double kick!" I exclaimed while having every nerve on end. Now free, he made a jump in the air and landed two fierce kicks on the side of the camerupt's face; putting more power into incapacitating it than necessary. Boo-Yah! I-I mean, we did it! Chirpie let out a screech of victory and crossed his arm before being put back in his pokeball. Now time to kick the ever-living hell outta-
"Hmhmhmh...ahahah...AHAHAHAHAHA!"
That was the first human sound to fill the air after our battle. At the very least, it sounded creepy. At the most, it sounded downright scary to a 'T'. I dared to look ahead and saw a very befuddled looking Maxie. His once neat hair suddenly came out of place in a few areas. The large spectacles on his face half fell on one side. However, the most out of place thing he featured was a very disturbing maniacal laughter. I felt very uncomfortable for several minutes as he continued this out of character behavior.
When he finally finished, Maxie pulled back his hair and fixed his glasses, but a very wicked smile was stuck on the Magma leader's features. Okay, this is new.
"You're certainly full of surprises! But how about we make things more interesting with the power of mega evoluti-" Brrrrg! Brrrrg!
Maxie had stopped talking upon hearing the ringing noises. Immediately, he dug into his pocket to pull out a red cellphone. With his attention now on the device, Maxie gave his back to me and answered in his normal tone of voice.
"Hello?...oh, Courtney...yes I'm fine,"
Was he...really ignoring me for a phone call?! What the hell?! This was supposed to be a serious situation! My face was now fixed into a scowl while he talked.
"HEY! Get off your phone! I'm not done with you!"
"Could you hold for a moment, Courtney? Thank you,"
Maxie put a hand over the receiving end and turned back towards me. "Excuse me, but it would be much appreciated if you waited until I finished," he said bluntly and gave me his backside once more to resume his conversation. I could feel something snap in my brain. My anger started boiling to its peak, until finally..."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
I couldn't control my rage any longer and charged in full force to punch him in the face. My hard-headed perspective unfortunately blinded me to the danger was still there; namely the volcano we were still on. The fist that was clenched aimed for my opponent, but missed as he casually stepped aside to let me rush past him...and go right over the edge of the platform. Just as I realized what my stupidity made me do, shock prevented me from any measures in saving my own life. Of all the dumb things to have done, this one certainly takes the cake! What a cruel wor-
My body jerked to a stop with my toes being restrained from the shirt being pulled back. The heart in my chest pounded ferociously from the near death experience while my body was completely coated with anxious sweat. I could barely breathe at all and every inch of me trembled to the core.
"Hm, I see...good work. I have a few things to do before we return, but I would be grateful if you started making preparations. Good-bye,"
Maxie ended his call and put the cellphone back into his pocket while his other hand kept a grip on my shirt. Though, he felt the trembling and noticed my distress, he made no effort to pull me back right away (what a prick!). Instead, he reached over to the bulky machine and opened the glass top to retrieve the meteorite. There were no attempts of struggling on my part because I preferably didn't want to plunge into molten lava.
"I find myself at a bit of a loss..." Is what I heard him say with a rough yank that finally pulled me back from the primary danger and forced me to land in the arm of the second one. "...that I encounter an exceptional trainer who shares a common view with me, but has the great irony of possessing the same violent tendencies as my not-so-intelligent adversary. Honestly, it would have been a more logical choice to let you fall," he finished with a blunt, straightforward voice. Yeah, this guy was really creeping me out. Despite his cruel confession, it was easy to see that the man wasn't completely soulless. However, my opinion of him changed from creepy nerd thug to a VERY creepy nerd thug. That was because I felt my pack moving around and looked down to see him casually opening it to put the space rock in.
"Hey pal! Hands off!"
Maxie had just finished putting the object of interest in the bag when my hand roughly slapped against his. A frown crossed the scientist's face as he snatched up the offending limb by the wrist. "You're a very hard child to appease. Even when I spare your life and give you back the item you sought, kindness is wasted in the face of your lack of gratefulness,"
"Grateful?! I'm supposed to be grateful to someone like you?! Think again smartass! I'll hit you in the face the next time you do that!"
"That's a very bold declaration considering what kind of position you're currently in. I can still toss you over the side,"
"Bring it on, Magma dork! I'm ready for you anytime!"
"Pardon the interruption, but I would prefer it good sir, if you released my terribly naive student instead so we can go on our way,"
Maxie and I stopped arguing when we heard a new voice enter the heated conversation. Well, it was new to the Magma leader at least. The hairs on the back of my neck automatically pricked up and my face turned myself a bright red in a mixture of anxiety and embarrassment as I instantly recognized it. Good arceus! How was it even possible?! When Maxie looked up, he saw a calmly poised Professor Sycamore with his hair lightly whipping through the hot wind and his blue eyes shining with amusement. He was wearing his ironed blue silk shirt with the top button still missing, but the other two now unbuttoned. He held a pokeball closed to his lips in a somewhat gallant pose like he was a shojo romantic or something. Hardly a threat to the Hoenn native, but more silly is what he would describe it. I couldn't see a thing from how I was positioned, but would be unfortunate to get a look soon enough.
"Your student?"
"Oh yes! Very much so!"
"I've never seen this guy in my life!"
"Tsk, tsk! For shame miss Maple! Lying to this poor man on top of deceiving and abandoning me to throw yourself into harm's way! That is certainly not what I taught you!"
I heard light footsteps sneak closer to us as they gently pattered against the plexiglas. Maxie briefly looked back on my distressed expression and quietly lost himself in thought for a moment. Meanwhile, I felt awkward thinking about who was the safer person at the moment: An egotistical pointdexter who's the leader of a criminal organization; or the overconfident, strangely alluring Pokémon professor who made it a personal dedication to obsess/stalk me in every single waking moment he had? Honestly, the lava was starting to look pretty more appealing to me. Getting caught between these two crazies was enough to make me go insane.
"So if I just hand you over my nuisance, all of my problems will go away?"
Hey!
"Why, precisely! If you refuse to release the delicate lady however, I will have no choice but to engage in a match with you! And be warned sir: I am quite the tough opponent!" He replied as he held the pokeball out with a smug grin as if he were intimidating...which he wasn't.
Hold the phone! The professor had a Pokémon?! It's pretty much a given that every Pokémon professor has three starters for their students, but I've never seen his before! That would explain how he followed me everywhere so swiftly with ease.
"Well, seeing as how I have no more Pokémon to dispense at will and now suddenly having another task to deal with, I suppose that there isn't any other option but to accept your conditions,"
WHAT?! He was giving up already?! Wait! NO!
Before I could fully realize the next thing, Maxie flung me towards Sycamore. I stumbled with my footing, but inevitably landed into his chest. Just like a Venus flytrap, his free arm quickly latched ahold of me by the waist the second I made contact. While it was absurd of me to believe that Maxie cared about my well-being, he could at least extend the courtesy of just letting go of me so I can plot an escape! I looked back at Maxie, and the fact that his lips managed a small grin got me furious: He did it just to torment me! That dick!
Forgetting that I was still In Sycamore's hold, the instinctive action to inflict violence kicked in and I tried to move forward to maim the nerd. The professor however, pulled me back and picked me like I was a flustered kitten and threw my body over his shoulder.
"Thank you kindly good sir! Miss Maple shall be on our way! But uh, please hold this for me if you will!" He said as he tossed the pokeball towards Maxie. The unconscious reaction to catch it was inevitable; though Maxie got ahold of it with one hand while displaying no expression of surprise. "Good day to you!"
With that, Professor Sycamore turned on his heels and left while I struggled against his grip like some wild beast. He was making an accurate bee-line for the path that led down the mountain.
...
No sooner had the two left, Maxie found himself a little flustered. While he never had the intentions of starting another battle with a new objective now clear, it was still just a tad bothersome to realize that what he was now holding was an empty pokeball. Of course the trickery had been clarified upon opening it up and revealing nothing but empty space. Despite the petty move, it was useless to dwell on it. He had just discovered the location of a means to awaken the slumbering earth titan.
...
The Jagged Pass sounds just how it looks: Jagged. Its path was certainly rough and unstable. The pine trees and grass was blanketed in ash that was thicker than in route 113. Surprisingly enough, it had sort of a tranquil feeling to it. Of course, I was feeling anything but that right now. After at least forty-five minutes of beating my fists against Sycamore's back, yelling, swearing and attempted flailing, all of my energy ran out. Now, only a drained, bitter expression was stapled on my face. My arms hung loose down his backside in defeat.
"Finally done with your temper tantrum dear?"
"..."
"Why don't we stop for a moment?"
Suddenly, I was put down and forced to sit with the professor on a nearby, large rock. On cue, I turned my face away so I wouldn't look at him. He only laughed in response like it was some cute quirk I make. "May dear, don't you think that you're being a bit unreasonable? You act as though I have wronged you! I was even expecting a lovely kiss from those darling lips of yours after rescuing you from that evil madman!"
Sycamore gave out a light sigh and very boldly rested his head on my shoulder. My face blushed upon feeling its weight and smelling his cologne. The curiosity to see his adorable face started to eat away at me, but I kept telling myself that it would only encourage him to bother me further if I gave in.
"*Sigh* it is quite unfair, you know? Trying so hard to please and take care of you only to be ignored and constantly left behind! Tell me darling, do you hate me?"
Well, hate certainly wasn't the word that popped into my head. He was very annoying and scary at times, but it definitely wasn't the first word of description for him. "No," I replied in a blunt tone. "Really? Then why do you give me such a hard time?" He inquired with sudden interest. The professor eagerly picked up his head. Of course, I was still turned away, so it came as a bit of a surprise when my skin registered his slender fingers around my chin before being yanked over to his direction. The second we saw each other, I squeezed my eyes shut and held up my hands in defense, for I knew what was coming next.
"Why do you feel the need to resist my authority?"
Just as anticipated, his other arm encircled my lower half and pulled me towards his heated chest. It felt like my touch was growing numb from remembering his warmth.
"Why do you deny me with such passion?"
The worst part had been my lips that registered his hot breath against them. This was just as embarrassing as all the other times like...oh no!
My forehead collided with his when I realized something important; Wally was left behind! First shock, then dull pain from my skull and then shock again while trying to get up. Sycamore however kept me in place despite his own head aching.
"Darling, what on earth has gotten-"
"Professor, I left Wally on top of the mountain! We hafta go back!" I exclaimed while struggling to pull away. However, just mentioning my friend's name seemed to have offended him, for an annoyed expression briefly crossed his face and held onto me even tighter. I know he didn't care much for him, but it was every responsible authoritive figure's to look out for the well-being of other helpless people.
"Is that all dear? You make it sound like it is something serious!"
Scratch that, I clearly should have known better.
It took a moment for those words to be processed by my brain; and when the message was deciphered, my temper flared. I forcibly pushed myself away and shot up.
"Not serious?! It is serious, idiot! He could be in trouble!"
Sycamore's smile suddenly dropped to a neutral line as I not only defied him, but threw an insult on top of caring little for him. Still, he did his best to remain unaffected while standing up in turn. "Miss Maple, I do believe that wa-"SLAP!
In my fury, I got so wrapped up in anger, that my brain was tricked into believing anything that came out of his mouth was automatically offensive. Then I realized that my hand struck the side of his face.
Oh shit.
I just committed a serious crime! While it was fair game (said my father) to hit no good scumbags or boys, striking a respected adult wad a serious no-no. Every fiber of my being froze while my hand radiated pain. The professor somehow remained where he was with his head turned from my assault. A bright red mark burned prominently on his pale skin. Terrible silence was all that filled the air as my eyes were wide with terror. I was very much-oh shit!
Sycamore returned his face back into its original position to lock back onto me with an unamused pair of blue eyes. "I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" My voice managed to blurt out in defense in an attempt to avoid punishment. Yeah, he'll definitely buy that when hell freezes over.
The professor stretched out his right hand for my face. Fear of getting hit back paralyzed any logic of moving away, so I prepared for the worst.
His soft palm reached my skin, by simply framed the side of it. He then bent himself down to where we could meet at eye level. Good arceus! Just put me out of my misery already! Enough with your tortuously slow movements.
My hand that had been the culprit of the crime had been taken up B his other had while not daring to take his sight off of me. Oh hell, he was gonna break my fingers! I sweated with nervousness as my thoughts tormented me about the possible scenarios of punishment. The skin of my hand felt clammy as his thumb gently brushed over the top of my palm.
"...oh my. You certainly have been quite brave today haven't you? Barreling away through your opponents challenging people with that sharp tongue and brute strength," he started off saying in a surprisingly calm voice. I was still in the state of anxiety and was confused by his tame voice. Meanwhile, the professor continued on.
"However, a tactic as reckless as that reaps a few undesirable consequences. Such as nearly killing yourself when you practically threw yourself out of that tree house,"
The hand that framed my face moved up to my forehead to brush his fingers against the spot where the bump had formerly existed. What the hell was he implying?! Was he gonna push me out of a tree house?! I don't understand what he's talking about! My body started to tremble from the fear of his possibly unpredictable behavior.
Sycamore then slid that hand down to my arm to the side of my forearm where the scar I sustained from route 113 was. "Do not think that I have not noticed all those wound you collected while you were away from my presence," he said sternly as he clutched that arm with a firm grip and pulled me closer to him. Any attempts to stop the professor proved useless as I was still stiff from fright when our bodies were deemed close enough for him, the hand that held mine dropped the extremity and held the side of my waist.
As if things weren't confusing enough, Sycamore moved his face to mine and planted a short kiss on my lips. The fear that was there had now been replaced with that weird, compromising emotion that I desperately wished hadn't been so influential on me. He gave me another one that made my lids grow heavy and I fought internally to stay focused. Just when it looked like he was about to imprint another one, the professor stopped and hovered the intoxicating pair over mine to continue his torture.
"I simply find it quite bothersome that you risk so much of yourself to that ungrateful travel companion you have and get nothing in return. Nothing but scars at least,"
He pressed his lips against mine once more; making my own pair burn with desire. The trance was complete as my eyes were sleepily closed and was found leaning closer towards him. It had been some time since I felt like this. So drawn...was it okay to be feeling this way?
"Stay with me darling. Do not put yourself through any more hardship,"
"But-"
"I will hear no more of it! Your trainer friend is plenty capable of taking care of himself. Now, be a good girl and behave for your beloved professor,"
With that, the professor took ahold of my mouth with his in a heated kiss; leaving no room for any argument.
...
Right now, Wally felt very proud of himself. With combined efforts of his strategy and Pokémon, the admin leader Tabitha was beaten with the anger of defeat smeared all over his face. He wanted to kick the small, potent thorn at his side, but was forced to retreat due to the chaotic onslaught of Team Aqua.
With a snarl, he fled the mountain before he got captured as a prisoner of war. Wally wanted to go after him, but a very uptight kirlia discouraged the idea.That was okay though, he couldn't wait to tell his sempai that he beat an admin...where was she anyway? The no looked back at the plexiglas platform, but the only occupant on it was a that strange, now useless machine.
He was going to investigate further, when an Aqua grunt suddenly grabbed him by the arm and corralled the young trainer to the rest of the water-type based group.Standing in the middle of barely organized mess was Archie, who encouraged the shouts of victory and other loud noises.
"Kickass job everyone! We beat back those Magma losers and we're all still alive! Now let's go get drunk and ink some tattoos!"
The crowd was very pleased by this notion, but Wally certainly disagreed. As they started to swarm to the cable car, he began to move in the opposite direction.
"Woah there! Where do you think you're going?!"
Wally was suddenly held back by Archie's powerful hand. The boy's shoulder felt so much power come from that strong grip, that his muscles nearly felt crushed there. He didn't really want to, but Wally made himself look back at the intimidating man. No sooner had they made eye contact, Archie's grin grew more wild.
"I-I'm uh, I was gonna go look for sempai,"
"Oh, Lil scamp? Meh, we'll find her later! Let's go celebrate right now!" He replied as he started to pull him back. Wally became frightened and tried to speak up.
"B-but I'm too young for all that stuff! I'm not even a part of your team!"
The muscled man let out a hearty laugh at hearing the statement as if he were silly. Then the situation got tense. "Oh...yes you are! The second you put on that bandanna, your weak, little self belonged to me!"
"Wh-what?! You never said anything about that!"
"Don't hafta! Now let's hurry up or the beer will get warm!"
"AAAAAAAAGH! SEMPAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
*to be continued in chapter 21*
